Note: The material below is paraphrased from publicly available media stories. The original sources are cited in the URLs below each story.
Canadian tech firms shun remote work
An article in the Toronto Star by Tara Deschamps of The Canadian Press describes how the tech sector, often perceived as leading edge in its practices, is now reversing its policies towards working from home and instead mandating returns to the office. The article quotes a recent report from the jobs site Indeed which revealed that “the number of Canadians who had some form of hybrid work arrangement, is now just shy of 60 per cent, down from 75 per cent a year earlier. The general reasoning for the turnaround is the feeling among managers that it is easier to build trust, and instill skills in new employees when they are on-site. Even IBM chief executive Arvind Krishna, told Bloomberg back in May that “those who stick to remote work would find it difficult to get promoted, especially into managerial roles.”
Boeing executives redefine the hybrid work situation – for themselves at least
A long article in the Wall Street Journal highlights the challenges and the perqs of being a high-flying senior executive. It primarily profiles Boeing CEO David Calhoun, who continues to work from home at least some of the time and covers the commute to many of Boeings regional offices and plants via private jet. To be fair this has always been a requirement for senior officers of many companies, but despite having a return-to-the-office mandate for much of the Boeing staff, Calhoun also praises the benefits of video chat conferencing. The same pressure for presence still exists. The article quotes current and former executives as saying, “Calhoun’s hands-off approach to management has at times made him seem less visible than some prior Boeing leaders, who spent more time at headquarters and held more frequent meetings”
Companies rebrand “feedback” to something more timely
Another article from the Wall Street Journal this week, by Alexandra Bruell and Lindsay Ellison highlights the trend among many companies to rebrand those conversations in which a manager informs an employee as to their progress and their opportunities to improve. Feedback, the article says, “too often leaves workers feeling defeated, weighed down by past actions instead of considering the next steps ahead, but “feedforward” encourages improvement and development,” and “activate a social-threat response in the brain interfering with the ability to think clearly, and raising heart rates.” Other replacements being made by large companies include Astra Zeneca that offer “connect” sessions in place of “reviews,” Microsoft, which offers employees “perspectives” in place of feedback.
Salesforce’s AI Einstein Copilot and its impact on white collar jobs
It has often been said, by people observing AI and other technologies moving into the workspace that it will take jobs away. Most experts resist that premise, saying that rather than eliminate jobs, it’s more a matter that jobs will change. I had a great conversation with futurist Bob Johansen on this topic in the CoolTimeLife episode Welcome to the Officeverse. The huge company SalesForce is a case in point. An article by Michelle Cheng, published on Quartz, shows how its new generative AI assistant bot will help customers get answers more quickly. In a press conference announcing the platform, Salesforce AI CEO Clara Shih, described how will need to learn new skills, and new jobs will come out, including prompt engineering.
(Quartz)
So anyway…
These are just some of the stories we found interesting about the workweek this week. If you like this, please consider subscribing to the CoolTimeLife podcast where we will continue to deliver useful information and insight for your busy working life. Each episode has a page on the CoolTimeLife website, and we would love for you to leave your thoughts about what these stories mean to you.
CoolTimeLife 
Leave a comment